Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been utilized since about the 1960s. However, for the first few decades of use, the relatively low light output and narrow range of colored illumination limited the LED utilization role to specialized applications (e.g., indicator lamps). As light output improved, LED utilization within other lighting systems, such as within LED “EXIT” signs and LED traffic signals, began to increase. Over the last several years, the white light output capacity of LEDs has more than tripled, thereby allowing the LED to become the lighting solution of choice for a wide range of lighting solutions.
LED lighting solutions have introduced other advantages, such as increased reliability, design flexibility, and safety. For example, traditional turn, tail, and stop signal lighting concepts have been integrated into full combination lamps. Lighting solutions may be designed to optimize light distribution for a number of applications, such as in fair or adverse weather conditions (e.g., dust, fog, rain, and/or snow). For example, a lighting solution may emit light in short or long range, produce a wide or a narrow beam pattern, and/or produce a short or a tall beam pattern.
LED lighting solutions may include LEDs, a printed circuit board (PCB), and associated control circuitry. Various elements of each lighting solution may be selected to optimize travel of light away from the LED (e.g., to produce a particular beam pattern).
Due to the vast amount of variability in selecting elements of a lighting solution, efforts continue to develop particular directional and patterned beams which cater to the specific application for which it was intended.